The present invention relates to medical testing and more specifically to a form for facilitating sample collection and transmission for medical testing.
With recent technological improvements, it is possible to perform biological testing not only on dry biological materials, but with smaller and smaller biological samples. These technological improvements have allowed the development of increasing numbers of home test kits and commercial test kits alike. In the former case, the patient will collect a biological sample in the privacy of their own home or office and transmit the biological sample to a medical testing facility. In the latter case, small or remotely located medical facilities can collect the patient sample and transmit it to the testing facility.
The present invention provides a medical testing device and more specifically a sample receiving device provided as a form-type assembly to facilitate the collection of a biological sample and transmission of the same to a remote facility.
More specifically, the invention is embodied in a medical test form comprising a sample carrier assembly having a sample receiving material secured to a first surface thereof, the sample carrier assembly including a back panel for covering a back surface of said sample receiving material and further including a protective sheet hingedly coupled to the back panel for selectively overlying a top surface of the sample receiving material whereby said sample receiving material is selectively sandwiched between and protected by said protective sheet and said back panel.
According to a first implementation of the invention, the biological sample receiving portion of the medical testing device is provided as a sample receiving sub-assembly that is itself secured to a carrier substrate for transport to the medical facility for testing. The biological sample receiving sub-assembly desirably includes a backing member and a cover member for sandwiching therebetween a biological sample receiving material. Access openings are suitably provided at least in the cover member to allow a sample to be applied to or deposited on the sample receiving material. In an exemplary embodiment, e.g., where the material being sampled is blood, both the cover member and the backing member include aligned openings to facilitate removal of the sample bearing portion of the sample receiving material at the medical testing facility. To protect the sample receiving material prior to the application of the biological sample, to maintain the same contaminant free, a top protective layer is preferably further disposed over the cover member of the sample receiving sub-assembly, thereby to define the protective layer of the assembly. As mentioned above, the biological sample receiving sub-assembly is secured to a carrier substrate, which in a preferred embodiment of the invention is one panel of a multi panel form that includes instructional material and/or patient identifying information.
In an alternate implementation of the invention, the sample receiving material is secured directly to the carrier substrate. More preferably, the carrier substrate includes a two panel V-fold mailer and the sample receiving material is secured to one panel of the mailer. In this embodiment, at least a portion of the carrier substrate is preferably transparent to permit visualization of the sample receiving material therethrough. The remaining portions of the carrier substrate are preferably formed from a material that may be printed to allow instructional materials and/or patient information to be applied thereto.
The medical test form of the invention may advantageously be used to receive and transport blood samples, but other biological samples may be applied to and transported therewith.